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Performance Modeling Lead

OpenAI· Scaling
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Hybrid (San Francisco), Hybrid (Seattle)$0Full-timePosted 6mo ago

About the role

Lead a small team to build and apply performance modeling frameworks for AI infrastructure, guiding architectural decisions and vendor roadmaps through quantitative analysis across the full system stack.

Responsibilities

  • Build and own a performance modeling framework/toolchain to evaluate AI systems across multiple levels of abstraction.
  • Analyze and quantify architectural tradeoffs across compute, memory, networking, storage, and system topology.
  • Develop performance models to guide decisions on: scale-up vs. scale-out architectures; interconnect and network design; memory hierarchy and system balance.
  • Translate modeling outputs into clear recommendations for internal teams and external hardware vendors.
  • Influence reference designs and vendor roadmaps through data-driven insights.
  • Partner closely with machine learning, systems, and hardware teams to understand workload characteristics and requirements.
  • Lead and grow a small team (2–3 engineers), setting technical direction and maintaining high standards for modeling rigor.
  • Continuously improve modeling fidelity by validating against real system behavior and measurements.

Qualifications

  • Have experience owning or building performance modeling frameworks used to drive real system design decisions.
  • Have deep knowledge of AI/ML workloads, including training and/or inference at scale.
  • Understand system-level tradeoffs across compute, memory, and networking in large-scale distributed systems.
  • Are comfortable working across abstraction layers—from workload behavior to hardware implementation.
  • Have experience using modeling (analytical or simulation) to inform architectural decisions.
  • Can operate in ambiguous problem spaces and turn open-ended questions into structured analysis.
  • Communicate clearly and influence both internal teams and external partners.

Skills

Required:Performance modelingAI/ML workloads (training/inference at scale)

Benefits

  • Medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family, with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts
  • Pre-tax accounts for Health FSA, Dependent Care FSA, and commuter expenses (parking and transit)
  • 401(k) retirement plan with employer match
  • Paid parental leave (up to 24 weeks for birth parents and 20 weeks for non-birthing parents), plus paid medical and caregiver leave (up to 8 weeks)
  • Paid time off: flexible PTO for exempt employees and up to 15 days annually for non-exempt employees
  • 13+ paid company holidays, and multiple paid coordinated company office closures throughout the year for focus and recharge, plus paid sick or safe time
  • Mental health and wellness support
  • Employer-paid basic life and disability coverage
  • Annual learning and development stipend
  • Daily meals in our offices, and meal delivery credits as eligible
  • Relocation support for eligible employees
  • Additional taxable fringe benefits, such as charitable donation matching and wellness stipends
Last updated Sep 24, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About OpenAI

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